Story by Theresa Nett
Team alumni Dan Rashovich, former linebacker for 16 seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, is now backing up a foundation dedicated to researching and improving treatments for children鈥檚 cancer. At a lunch and learn presentation at Crescent Point Energy Corp, he was joined by fellow alumni offensive tackle Andrew Greene to acknowledge the company as the foremost financial donor.
The Believe in the Gold Foundation was started six years ago in Calgary by Shonalie Biafore, and has now spread to Saskatchewan. Her daughter Jacey, was diagnosed in 2010 with a very rare cancer called Erwin鈥檚 Sarcoma, similar to the cancer Terry Fox had. Jacey passed away in 2012 but left behind the catch phrase 鈥淏elieve鈥�. Her mother started a foundation funding research into new treatments for children, and offer financial support to local families with children who had been diagnosed with cancer.
鈥淚 was approached by a friend who started asking me questions, if I knew anything about gold, how it鈥檚 the symbol for kids with cancer, and he asked if I knew only 4 per cent of funding for cancer research go towards research for kids with the disease,鈥� said Rashovich. 鈥淲hat do you want me to do, I asked, and my friend said chair this event we鈥檙e having. I thought I can do better than that, let鈥檚 get the whole Roughrider alumni on it. They jumped on it.鈥�
With last year鈥檚 Believe in the Gold Walk or Run Rashovich first as chair, the event raised about $70,000, with Crescent Point donating $30,000 of that total. The funds are split between local families at 45 per cent, research at 45 per cent, and the final 10 per cent towards raising awareness. The research funds go directly to support the work of Dr. Doug Mahoney at the University of Calgary for immunotherapy as a cancer treatment.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in the midst of revolutionizing cancer therapy,鈥� said Mahoney. In the last decade immunotherapy has become the 鈥渇ourth pillar鈥� in cancer treatments. Biafore had wanted to fund new treatments and that brought her to Mahoney. The oncology team at the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital that had treated her daughter reached out to him on her behalf. After a discussion of his research, particularly with viral immunotherapy along with a recommendation from the Alberta Children鈥檚 Hospital also funding this research, she decided to allocate 45 per cent of the money raised towards the research of the new treatment as well as a donation to the Cummings School of Medicine, the medical department of the University of Calgary where Mahoney has his lab.
鈥淚t鈥檚 based around the idea that viruses are essentially to us like little programmable robots. In a nutshell, the viruses are engineered to infect the cancer cells and start to kill them. It is also engineered to help the patient鈥檚 immune system learn what cancer is, what it looks like, and helps seek out and destroy it. It basically like a two-part system,鈥� said Mahoney.听 Immunotherapy was approved in 2011 by the FDA and has shown very promising results in treating melanoma (skin cancer) and lung cancer. The causes of childhood cancer to this day remain unknown. Alterations in adult DNA that are caused by smoking for example might be easier to track, but in children there are no known causes. Mahoney鈥檚 research is based on finding a treatment specifically for children with cancer.
With 45 per cent of the money raised supporting families in the province, this was one of the important parts that brought Crescent Point Energy Corp aboard as a supporter, according to Taralyn French who is in charge of health and wellness for the company. 鈥淲e helped 17 families last year. Crescent Point has done a lot for our community and it鈥檚 so nice to see that it鈥檚 affecting our local families. It makes you proud to work here that鈥檚 for sure.鈥� French was also the organizer for the August 22 lunch and learn.
Mahoney added that parents often have to take a leave of absence or even quit their jobs where treatment for kids with cancer is involved. 鈥淧arents sometimes have to move from a rural area to a city for a long period of time (for treatment for their kids). As great as our health care system is, not all of the expenses are covered all the time.鈥�
That鈥檚 where Believe in Gold can play a big part for families when they are seeking out treatment options. 鈥淭here are obviously some consequences to radiation and chemotherapy and surgeries that are not so nice. So if there were a better way of treating people, they would certainly choose it,鈥� said Mahoney.
This year鈥檚 annual Believe in the Gold Foundation will be hosting a walk and run in Wascana on Saturday, September 22, and Rashovich encourages everyone to come out. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like a mini Disneyland. It鈥檚 the best way to describe it. They will be throwing around footballs with Roughrider alumni in their jerseys. There will be therapy dogs, Rider tattoos for the kids, face painting and golden balloons.鈥�
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